It’s not unusual for professors to fret about how their students will fare in the world after graduation. Regarding Winston Thayer, a Media Scoring & Production major who graduates from the Frost School of Music this spring, assistant professor Daniel Strange has an unusual cause for concern.
“The only thing I worry about Winston is him getting enough sleep,” said Strange, who is faculty advisor for Thayer’s Rock Symphonic project. “Seriously, I don’t know when he sleeps. I once asked him, ‘How do you do all this?’ Because nothing seems like too much of a stretch for him.”
“All this” starts with a course load that would crush lesser mortals, 20 credits most semesters. Thayer is also minoring in Composition and Music Industry, in addition to an impressive number of extracurricular projects. His credits include scoring the 2024 computer game “Ready, Steady, Ship,” making a video for the Frost School’s Concerts With Humans and Artificial Intelligence (CHAI) project, and co-producing the 2024 holiday album “A Very Frosty Christmas.”
But Thayer’s biggest project of all is Rock Symphonic, which he co-created with alumnus Dawson Fuss during his sophomore year. Billed as “A Frost Student Cross Collaboration,” Rock Symphonic is an annual concert featuring the school’s rock and classical students playing together. It’s been successful enough to yield recordings in the first two years, with the third edition scheduled for March 17 at Maurice Gusman Concert Hall.
“Rock Symphonic is my volunteer baby, a free concert I do for the love of the game,” Thayer said. “Initially, we didn’t understand all the tons of people we’d have to go through to make something. It was just, ‘There’s an empty concert hall, can we use it?’ But there were a lot of hoops to jump through. It was Dean Berg’s support that made it happen.”
It will come as no surprise that Thayer showed precocious tendencies early on. He grew up in Minnesota, where family lore holds that he could read music before he could read words. He was drawn to scores (“My Spotify Wrapped every year is all soundtracks,” he noted), and still composes. But working with fellow students on recording projects has made him equally interested in production.
“That really seems like what college should be for, discovering interests you did not know you had,” Thayer said. “One of the best things about the Frost School is the flexibility the teachers allow. Overall, they’ve really allowed me to do anything I wanted when it comes to classes. I’ve learned so much here.”
Thayer plans to move to California after graduation, possibly to attend graduate school and definitely to pursue professional opportunities. After he leaves, Rock Symphonic will continue under the leadership of Modern Artist Development and Entrepreneurship student Mallory Gravitt.
“I’ve really enjoyed my time here,” Thayer said. “It feels like I’ve learned the most I possibly could have. The Frost School of Music is a place where, if you do something cool and original, you can really stand out. Anyone can make a special niche that’s all their own. Whatever you want to do with music, the Frost School will prepare you for it.”
